Tao Tuesday #16
The supreme good is like water
Each week I will choose a passage, or allow a one to be chosen for me by opening a page, from Lao Tzu’s classic text the Tao Te Ching.
I believe Taoist teaching have much to offer in software as in life, so I’ll be adding some thoughts and reflections alongside it.
All excerpts are from Stephen Mitchell’s translation, unless otherwise stated.
Verse 8
The supreme good is like water,
which nourishes all things without trying to.
It is content with the low places that people disdain.
Thus it is like the Tao.
*
In dwelling, live close to the ground.
In thinking, keep to the simple.
In conflict, be fair and generous.
In governing, don’t try to control.
In work, do what you enjoy.
In family life, be completely present.
*
When you are content to be simply yourself
and don’t compare or compete,
everybody will respect you.
Sometimes it feels as if adding any commentary to these passages can only detract from them. They need very little spoken for on their behalf.
Today, I will simply share what it brings up in me.
What I am called to in this particular passage is the line about work and family life.
I enjoy my work immensely - I serve fantastic clients, while also having the freedom of working for myself, for making decisions and running my business as I see fit.
The downside is that it can occupy a lot of my headspace, which can occasionally prevent me from being fully present in family life.
I moved into the fractional world to achieve a better work/life harmony. We have a young daughter, with another child on the way, and are planning to home educate, so having more flexibility and autonomy over my time was essential.
Most fractionals I speak to aim to work full-time, splitting their time across multiple clients. I aim to work part-time, translating any increase in earnings back into more time with my family.
I am confident this ‘constraint’ has actually been a blessing for my career, forcing me to be far more ruthless about how I spend my time and where I place my attention, but that is a topic for another post.
Despite the occasional overlapping of my work mind into family time, I am proud of the decisions I have made to prioritise both my own wellbeing as well as that of my family. I have found the more I have done so, the better I perform professionally.
A paradox worthy of the Tao Te Ching.
Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to tend to another nourishing, supreme watery good - my daughter’s bathtime.